Research Interests

Current basic research is focused on the ontogeny of vocal behavior in North Atlantic right whales and the underlying acoustic causes of ship strikes and vessel collisions with marine mammals. Interdisciplinary applied research entails mitigating impacts from anthropogenic activities and noise on marine mammal biology, behavior, habitats and behavioral ecology.

Psychoacoustic investigations of the West Indian manatee have defined the manatees’ overall hearing abilities including their behavioral audiogram, critical masking ratios, and directional hearing. The work demonstrates the challenges manatees have detecting approaching boats and barges in their shallow water habitat. A parametric acoustic alarm designed to exploit the manatees best hearing abilities and alert them of approaching vessels has been successfully tested.

Passive acoustic monitoring studies are being conducted with North Atlantic right whales in the critical southeast calving habitat off the coast of Florida and Georgia. The call repertoire of surface active groups has been catalogued and analyzed with respect to structure, behavior and call affinity. The ontogeny of vocal communication between mothers and calves has been investigated over seven field seasons, revealing developmental aspects of behavior including the emergence various call types, their spectral characterizations and frequency of use.

Gerstein, E., Brady, B., Weeks, R., Bossart, G., Goldstein, J., & McCulloch, S. (2011). Passive acoustic recording to build acoustic catalogs to remotely monitor resident individuals and the health of the dolphin population in the Indian River Lagoon system in Florida. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 130, 2420.